Coming up... The Realtime Podcast Welcome to The Realtime Podcast wherein is explained absolutely everything worth knowing about Podcasting hosted by Tim Pritlove Tune In! • This is not a only lecture • This is a podcast • And it’s live • And we’re all in it together • So let’s have some serious fun with Podcasting Introduction • There is only one topic on our agenda today and it is: Podcasting • So i am telling you about the history and technology, present a couple of existing shows and thinking about what’s next • I am also going to present the equipment necessary to produce it and of course doing this production live to show what it can be like Part One: Podcasting Overview History • So where is this all coming from? • Podcasting itself is both brand-new and also quite a thing of the past • Radio recordings on the net have been here forever but they never really made it to the masses • The problem was distribution and this is what Podcasting is about to solve. Podcasting vs. Podcasts • The terms Podcasting and Podcasts generate confusion • Podcasting describes a way of how to distribute files on the internet in a simple yet effective way • Podcasts are a new kind of radio shows that borrow from the traditional format but gain a lot from the new flexibility provided by Podcasting Podcasting Technology • Podcasting is a combination of tools, protocols and formats that have been here for a while. • HTTP • RSS • MP3 • We just need to get these glued together in a special way to make things fly HTTP • HTTP is the primary transport protocol of the Internet and the main building block of the Web • Implemented everywhere • Deployed everywhere • Gets everywhere • HTTP is the choice of a new generation RSS • RSS has many names and many fathers • Dave Winer brought RSS to the masses driving the growth of the Blogosphere and generally made web sites more trackable • RSS v2.0 became the de-facto standard despite other activities of the semantic web crowd which eventually failed due to a lack of focus of the effective problem • Atom might eventually take over RSS Enclosures • Adam Curry, former TV and radio star looked for a way to make delivery of big files easy by “background delivery” • Talked to Dave Winer which introduced RSS enclosures to RSS 2.0 • Early recordings didn’t really catch on as people obviously didn’t want to listen on their computer MP3 • MP3 is the master of audio formats as it was the first of its kind to be considered “good enough” by a critical mass of people • ID3 Tags allow for some serious meta-tagging making tracking and organising digital recordings a snap • Quality can be scaled as needed • MPEG-4 AAC is a close contender Enhanced Podcasts • As this is a lecture it has slides which you apparently can’t see just by listening to it • But thanks to chapter marks you’ll find the slides attached to this recording as this is in MPEG-4 AAC format. • Chapter frames will soon find its way to MP3 (and maybe OGG too) but we’re not here yet. • But enough tech speak for now. More on this later. The iPod • The iPod changed the way people listened to digital content in a radical way • iTunes’ automated syncing showed the way how to couple machine and portable players • “Podcasting” was the vision of getting automatically delivered audio automatically synced as well • “Broadcasting via the Pod” • But there was no app doing it iPodder • Adam Curry went ahead in 2004 and created a small AppleScript dubbed iPodder • The script was extended to a real application by other programmers soon after. • Renamed to “Juice” because of TM issues • The “Daily Source Code” provided motivation to the developer scene Podcatchers • Bascically Pimped-up RSS Readers • NetNewsWire has only rough support • Juice is the slighty more flexible tool • Almost all MP3 players now integrate podcasting support • iTunes 4.9 shines with integration • Squeezebox and other devices have podcasting built-in Video Podcatchers • Video Podcasting is the next big thing and already running well • iTunes does videos since a long time • DTV focuses on easy viewing, brings its own (badly documented) namespace • FireAnt is the scene’s tool • Tivo tries to take advantage of the iPod now Podcasts Evolution • The new delivery method became immediately attractive to a growing audience of both showmakers and listeners • Maximum flexibility in quality, length, focus, free speech, listener interaction • ASCAP/BMI, GEMA and others prevent current commercial music from being played • Free speech and free music now play a big role Podcast formats • Audioblogs • Radio shows • Music shows • Interviews • Cartoons • TV News Part Two: Producing a Podcast How to podcast • First you do your recording • Then you convert your recording to MP3 • Add meta data • Drop your file in the podcast feed • Sit back and relax Recording a Podcast I • Everything starts with a good microphone • Pre-Amp is needed for proper quality • This is provided by audio interfaces or mixers • Use a compressor to raise the quality • Take your time to optimize your settings Recording a Podcast II • Use a good (and closed) headphone for monitoring • Mix in high quality music recordings only • Use a MIDI controller for interactive control during recording. Best for realtime! • Make it comfortable, warm and pleasing Music • Add music to your podcast to make it more enjoyable • Make breaks or use background music depending on taste • Keep licenses in mind and choose wisely • Creative Commons is the best way to go • Podsafe Music network is a bridge between traditional and “modern” licensing deals Free Music • Think about what you want to do with your recordings in the future • You are listening to a mix of DJ L'embrouille, a vivid promoter of netlabel music • The mix is licensed under a Creative Commons license • So you can download and listen to it at the Internet Archive • No real obligations, but do give credit! Arranging your Podcast • Find the right speed to talk and how you put everything together • Bring in feedback if available to make your listeners a part of the show • Do it live if you can to make it even more natural • Podcast is both about delivering information and providing entertainment Recording Tools I • Audacity is free and popular. The latest version adds quite a few podcasting features • Commercial tools provide much more sophisticated interfaces • Garageband, Cubase, Logic, Logic Express and Live all do a good job • Multitrack live recording opens the door to streaming podcasts but needs experience Recording Tools II Free Cheap Pricey Audacity CastBlaster Adobe Audition (LWM, free) (Win, 50$) MixCast Garageband Logic Express Win $12 Mac 79 Mac 149 Ableton Live CakeWalk SoundForge 499 Recording Hardware • External audio interfaces via USB or FireWire usually provide much better sound quality • Beware of driver issues and test the performance upfront • Latency can be a killer • Telephone hybrids allow attaching your phone to your mixer. You can use Skype too, yes. Encoding Tools • LAME comes in many flavours and produces reasonable quality • Try various encodings on your podcast and take care not to distort your signal • Audio quality is very important for the listening experience • Choose audio quality over bandwidth considerations (we’ll see later how this goes) Encoding Formats • MP3 does the job well • AAC has some nifty features and may be better audio quality • OGG is a contender but lacks distribution. Make it an option • Consider metadata to be very important. Don’t forget to put them in • Include your license in your podcast Add metadata • Make sure your MP3 contains all the necessary information as ID3 tags • Always include show title (name), show host (artist) and show name (album) and year. • Make use of track numbers, comments and especially the lyrics section to provide even more stuff to search for. • Choose clever naming for your files too! Part Three: Podcast Publishing Publishing Podcasts • Weblog software usually allows easy posting of enclosures via plug-ins (e.g. WordPress) • Dedicated podcast publishing software has more attention on metadata (e.g. Loudblog) • Podcast hosters optimize the process with specialized user interfaces (podhost.de, libsyn.com) The Feed • The feed is very important as it is your interface to your listeners • Provide it will all the basic information and keep it both elaborate and consise • Honor the format’s sepcification and make use of options • iTunes’ name space provides some important features that lack in RSS 2.0 • Yahoo’s Media Feed is the other contender Feed Syntax Example <rss version=”2.0”> <channel> <title>The Lunatic Fringe</title> <description> The Lunatic Fringe brings you all the background information you need to deal with all kinds of reality-related issues in your daily life. </description> <language>en</language> <item> <title>TFL001 The 22C3 realtime show</title> <description> This is the first TFL show recorded live on stage at the 22nd Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin hosted by the Chaos Computer Club </description> <link>http://fringe.prinz.org/episode/1</link> <enclosure type="audio/mpeg" length="25045103" url="http://fringe.prinz.org/archive/tfl001.mp3" /> </item> </channel> </rss> iTunes Name Space • Introduction of Podcasts in iTunes 4.9 brought extra flexibility • iTunes name space addresses lacking or ambigously specified elements • Ownership, contact information, ITMS categories, square icons and duration • Makes sense but slightly more work • Beware: iTunes copies information from the feed to the file by default Yahoo Media RSS • Extension for Yahoo Video Search • Form media groups. Describe AV metadata. Include credits, ratings, subtitles • Support is currently unclear but never ignore Yahoo as they are one of the three companies that know what has to be done.